


Mischievous, Adventurous, and a Little Bit Ridiculous

by heliotropelied



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Magazine Article
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heliotropelied/pseuds/heliotropelied
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eighteen months after the breakup of the century, Payne and Tomlinson speak for the first time about life after One Direction, climbing the ranks of the music industry, partnership, and marriage.</p>
<p>(Or, a Rolling Stone article about Liam and Louis post One Direction because I have no control over my life anymore.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mischievous, Adventurous, and a Little Bit Ridiculous

**Author's Note:**

> I am absolutely fucking _ridiculous_.
> 
>  
> 
> There's a whole damn proper fucking article format for this that I made. [Click here for that.](http://thesecondwarm.tumblr.com/post/73558388968/ctrl-click-to-view-in-full-res-read-on-ao3) And excuse me while I go throw myself off a fucking bridge.
> 
>  
> 
> [I'm on tumblr!](http://thesecondwarm.tumblr.com)

“And for the very last time, we are One Direction – thank you, and goodnight!” said Louis Tomlinson as the platforms carrying five boys lowered below stage at One Direction’s final concert a year and a half ago today. A cry of devastation from millions of fans was heard around the world when One Direction called it quits during a live stream announcing that they were to play one last show at London’s O2 Arena.

Almost as soon as the announcement was made, the betting pools started; who would be the first to disappear? The most successful solo artist? The one with the most dramatic career change? What no one could have predicted, however, was just how much influence members Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson would have on the industry post-boy band success in the months to come. Eighteen months after the breakup of the century, Payne and Tomlinson speak for the first time about life after One Direction, climbing the ranks of the music industry, partnership, and marriage.

One Direction, since their creation on the British reality show The X-Factor in 2010, had built a career on breaking records and making history. It was easy to calculate their chart topping album sales, their net-worth, and their global stardom. News of their success became almost as normal the greenness of grass, and the wetness of water. In April of 2017, however, the whole world was shocked when members Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne revealed that they had been in a relationship with each other since December of the previous year.

 

“It was a risk,” says Payne, “Until that point, we’d spent the majority of our career denying any allegations that any of us were in relationships. We were definitely worried about the backlash. Especially with the way that we did”

In a behind the scenes look for their latest music video at the time, the couple was caught on camera professing their undying love for each other.

“I still can’t believe you actually said that we had an undying love for each other!” Payne laughs as they watch the video again.

The video itself has more hits on YouTube than any other’s One Direction has ever released.

“A lot of people at the time thought it was an accident – we weren’t even in front of the camera,” Tomlinson pipes up. “I think people were always under the impression that we had very little control of our lives at the time. But if we didn’t want that in the video, it wouldn’t have been in the video.”

 In the various interviews given for the weeks after, the two were hounded about their relationship. When asked about how they came to decision, Tomlinson says,

“When we first got together, it was kind of terrifying because neither of us had been single for longer than a couple of months the entire time we’d been in the band. And then suddenly we were the only single ones in the band – Niall [Horan] and Harry [Styles] had girlfriends, and Zayn [Malik] was married. So Liam and I were spending a lot of time together.

“We’d had only girlfriends until that point so we never had time to even think about what it would be like having boyfriends – ”

Here, Payne takes over; a seamless transition of voices as if they’ve been doing this for years, which, to be fair, they have.

“ – So like, we danced around each other for a while trying to figure ourselves out before we decided that we should get over it. And once that was over it was all ok, except for the fact that we’re both terrible at keeping secrets and being subtle.

“We realized that we wouldn’t be able to keep it under wraps for long so we just sort of went f*** it, and told our team to keep it in the video during editing.”

Make no mistake, however, this was no easy decision.

“Oh, definitely not,” says Tomlinson as we grab lunch. He accepts the olives that his husband is picking off his pizza and piling onto his plate without a second thought.

“We talked for days before. I don’t think we’ve been to more management and PR meetings in our lives,” he chuckles, “The video was actually delayed a week because we were still preparing press releases. It was the most exhausting and nerve-wracking week we’ve ever experienced.”

Later, when talking to the couple’s former band mates, we’re told that absolutely no one was surprised when they started dating.

“To be honest,” says Harry Styles as he prepares to perform to a sold out crowd in Los Angeles, “I was more surprised that it didn’t happen sooner.”

Niall Horan, in his lavish basement studio at his home in London, nods when he hears Styles’s answer. “We always called Liam the dad of the band,” he laughs, “He was always keeping us on track even when he was goofing off with the rest of us. But Louis always had his own way of looking after everyone and I think at one point, they just started doing it together. The five of us were a family and the two of them sort of just became the parents – so the dating thing was pretty natural.”

By winter of 2017 the two had gotten engaged and talks of disbanding One Direction began floating around.

“People were saying that it was because of Liam and Louis,” recounts Zayn Malik, who is at the moment working on his second solo album produced by Tomlinson and Payne. “But, if anything, they were the only reason we kept delaying it. We’d been dropping albums and touring and recording in a non-stop cycle since we were teenagers. We were ready for a break.”

“Mostly, it was the media trying to make it out like the rest of us had a problem with their relationship,” adds Horan. “I think everyone wanted some scandalous story where we all hated each other by the end – like there was some big fight that was the final straw,” he says as though it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

Styles explains that there was never any fighting between them, “We were in [One Direction] for almost ten years and in that time I think the worst fight we had lasted about three days and ended with Liam and Louis herding us all into their hotel room and plying us with ice cream until we came to a truce.”

Back in the living room of their penthouse in New York City – one of three primary residences they keep with the others being a luxury apartment in L.A. and a mansion in London – Tomlinson recalls the fight, “Yeah, I think at one point Harry started calling us dad and dad,” he grins.

“I think the break up was pretty natural,” Payne says. “We were never really naïve enough to think we could do One Direction forever. By that point we were all pursuing other dreams and splitting our time between the band and our million other responsibilities. The band started taking a backseat to everything else and we didn’t think that was fair to the fans, or us.”

On the 20th of April 2018, the day of One Direction’s final concert, they had garnered 5 U.S. platinum selling albums, with countless #1 singles, a combined net worth of almost $1 billion, and a fan base large enough to populate a small nation to date. Not to mention the sheer number of awards they’d won.

“It sounds so obnoxious when I say this,” Tomlinson groans looking slightly embarrassed, “but at one point we actually ran out of room for [the awards]. I think we had to give our mums some to keep with them back home in England.”

Though One Direction had come to an end, the story of Tomlinson and Payne’s success had not. Not even one year after the break up, the couple took to recruiting new acts for their record label as well as writing and producing for some of the biggest names in pop music.

“We started the company a couple of years ago with some other people from a management company at the time,” Payne explains. “We only had one band signed at the time, but we were both very interested in getting involved in the business side of the industry.”

The two have since signed a total of six acts to their label, One Mode, one of which is about to become platinum here in the U.S. However, that’s not all they’ve got their names on.

“When we were writing for our third One Direction album,” says Tomlinson, “Liam and I realized we me made a pretty good team.”

Pretty good is to say the least. They wrote more than half that album together. They’ve gone to write on no less than ten of this year’s biggest chart toppers.

“It’s definitely different than hearing your own voice on the radio,” Tomlinson says, “I mean I’ll be driving and I’ll hear Harry singing and it’ll be like – ok, that’s my best friend smashing it, but also that’s my song that he’s singing.”

“You know what’s funny?” Payne asks, “I think the biggest fear that we had when we decided to disband was that we’d have to stop spending so much time with each other.

“But in the last month alone, I’ve seen Harry, Zayn, and Niall on at least twelve separate occasions. We wrote half of Harry’s record with him and produced Zayn’s. Niall’s been mixing for the both of them. Like we’re all working on different things, but we haven’t stopped working together.”

Of the five members of One Direction, Payne and Tomlinson are the only ones not to have released any music of their own even though Payne was the favorite to drop his solo record first.

“I think if this were nine years ago, I would’ve said the same,” Payne admits. “I was the one that struggled the most with having to give up my solo dream when we were put into the band, but I got over it pretty quickly.”

Tomlinson adds, “I don’t think either of us really want to put out solo records right now. We get to work with each other every day – we go to work together, we come home from work together – how many married couples get to say that?

“If one of us were to go solo right now, then we’d constantly be on opposite sides of the world. The two of us know what it’s like to do the whole constantly missing your loved ones thing – we haven’t even been married a year, neither of us are ready to go through that all over again. Not yet.”

A lack of a solo career hasn’t stopped the two of them from raking in the wards. Earlier this year, they brought home their first Grammys. They’re the talk of the town having not only become platinum recording artists, but producers as well. Their names are absolutely everywhere and they’ve been toted around as the new Beyoncé and Jay Z.

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Payne balks. “No one can be Beyoncé and Jay Z except for Beyoncé and Jay Z.”

Nevertheless, their success is nothing to be scoffed at. The chemistry and the nature of their partnership are unparalleled.

When asked about their relationship Tomlinson responds, “I think the reason why Liam and I work is that we have a good balance between the two of us of work and play.”

Payne nods in reply and expands, “We’re known around the office for being menaces. One time we changed all the clocks forward three hours just to mess with everyone at work. But at the same time neither of us tolerate sub-par work and we’re both very driven.”

There’s a saying that warns about going into business with your friends, but what of going into business with your spouse? When we ask Louis Tomlinson, he laughs into his husband’s shoulder and doesn’t stop for a good two minutes, so Payne answers for him instead.

“Well, having a business partner is kind of like having a spouse, but without the sex. So we kind of get the best of both worlds, don’t we?” he says grinning.


End file.
